Joanne Roque
@JoanneSilva10
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| Boxing: Golden Girl Marston prepares for upcoming fight |
British pro Boxer, and coach at the TRAD TKO gym in Canning Town,
Marianne ‘Golden Girl’ Marston may just prove to be the White Knight that women’s
professional Boxing has been waiting for.
Formally
known as the ‘Golden Girl’ of boxing Marston was unable to make her dreams come
true at the Olympics, as she was over the age limit of 35. However even though
her dream to compete didn’t become a reality she still took part in the games
as she joined BBC as a female expert for the coverage of Women’s boxing.
Marston,
40, was discovered by legendary Heavyweight Champion Smokin’ Joe Frazier, and
trained by Joe and his son Marvis Frazier at their gym in Philadelphia until it
closed in 2008, but the middle-class blonde girl who grew up in Norfolk is
determined to make her name in the professional ranks.
Her
own ambitions remain and as soon the problem with acquiring a visa to fight in
the United States is sorted, she will make her professional debut in the paid
ranks in Philadelphia.
The
Golden-Girl, trained with Terry Edwards, the former coach to the Great Britain
men’s squad said: ‘The success of women’s boxing at the games will help people recognize
that women have the strength, toughness and technique to take part in the
sport.
“Some
people look down on women boxing, but it has given me so much. I’m just glad
that its higher profile will lead to more women gaining the benefits that I
have.’
In
1999, she became the first woman in the UK to win a professional boxing title,
while her worldwide debut has been put on hold, she is
already well-known for her campaigning for the women’s boxing cause through the
media, as well as encouraging women into the sport through her highly
successful London based boxing classes.
Women's amateur boxing is on the rise in Britain, with the sport comes
medical risks, including broken bones and brain damage and the British Medical
Association would like to see it banned for men and women.
"Boxing is a blood sport, but amateur boxing is completely
different. It's about outscoring and outclassing your opponent. It's a physical
game of chess, a noble art," says Marston.
'”I have had a bleeding brain, broken ribs, hands
and nose, black eyes, split lips and a torn calf muscle,"
"I've been injured quite badly – but you expect it as a boxer,
don't you?" Indeed, boxing is often considered a bloodthirsty and dangerous sport and there have
been several attempts to ban it. Women's boxing divides opinion more than other
sports. Yet more and more women are taking it up.
The London Olympics has been a triumph for women's sporting achievement
in general, it has been a defining moment for boxing in particular - the games
where women demonstrated they could not only complete in a sport seen as
quintessentially male, but also do it with real class.
Nicola Adams - with her trademark copy of the ‘Ali shuffle’ employed
between lightning-quick combinations - looked completely at home in the ring.
Alongside Ireland's Katie Taylor, the four-times world champion, the women have
silenced doubters with convincing displays of skillful and entertaining boxing.
Boxing was banned for females in this country less than 20 years ago and
has found its Pied Piper and the Olympic legacy, the sport which was banned in
the UK until 1996, with the British
Boxing Board of Control (BBBofC) denying women a
license to fight until 1998 on the grounds that premenstrual
syndrome made them too unstable to box.
Even after being given the green light by the Amateur Boxing Association of England, getting a competitive fight was difficult and even finding a gym to
train in could be a struggle, with girls regularly turned away because of a
lack of ‘facilities’.
As soon as you enter the gym, the first thing you notice is the
discipline involved, all the women are eager to follow Marston’s instructions
executing each move with precision.
Heather Christian, who’s a
regular at the classes, believes that boxing suited her lifestyle as a mum -
and that the physicality of the sport shouldn't put other women off. "I don't think it's any more dangerous
than a lot of other sports - cycling you can easily get knocked off by a car.
Boxing is very well moderated and there's a safety protocol in place."
Marston believes that getting girls into the sport is
not enough: the far bigger challenge is retaining them through their teenage
years. “As girls bodies change, they become more self-conscious about their
appearance and as different interests compete for their time teenage girls tend
to drop of sport at a considerably faster rate then boys”
It is vital to enable grassroots sport participation and highlight role
models across all levels of sport. Being able to see the steps it might take to
get to the top, and that success is possible at all levels is also likely to
help girls stay in sport through their teens.
“Women’s boxing is taken better in the USA and Europe. It just needs
time here, the women in the Olympics were on a par with their male
counterparts,”
Before 2012, the attitude towards women’s boxing was
skeptical and less than positive, due to the belief that premenstrual syndrome
made women too ‘unstable’ to compete the sport was thought to be ‘unfeminine’.
“Women’s boxing does not get the coverage and profile
that the men’s event does,” said a frustrated Marston.
The sport is no longer seen as controversial and it
has greatly encouraged women to participate for fitness as well as competitive
reasons. What a lot of people don’t know is that Marston has also been highly active
in her attempts to bring a world significant women’s Boxing event to the UK.
The Event
It hasn’t been an easy journey, in mid 2011 Marston,
along with her father and daughter promoting team Steve and Olivia Goodwin,
proposed an all female event to BBBofC.
Not
to be deterred she continued in her quest, and as she explains it finally seems
set to happen early in 2013.
“The
women fought brilliantly, they did the sport proud, as did all the girls that
took part, now it’s time to truly establish women’s boxing in the UK, 100 years
ago they said women couldn’t be doctors, or lawyers, or vote, and 30 years ago
they said women weren’t capable of running a marathon”
Last
year, the female boxers proved the critics wrong who said women couldn’t box.
Adams, Taylor and all the female boxers at London 2012 proved to the world that
women can fight just as well as the men, and, just as important that there is
an appetite and an audience for women’s boxing.
“Now we’re coming for all those in the world of professional boxing who
have tried to stop women from competing here in the UK. You know who you are,
and you have no excuses left.”
With her frustrations well and truly vented Marston then continued,
“After the board (BBBofC) refused to sanction the event, I had no intention of
giving up, I’m not a quitter.
“First
I contacted World Boxing Federation President, Howard Goldberg. I particularly
wanted to work with the WBF after noticing on BoxRec that most of the #1 ranked
girls, people like Zita Zatyko, Christina Hammer, Anne Sophie Mathis, were all
WBF Champions”
“I
then had a chat with promoter Miranda Carter to see if she would be interested
in promoting the event. She’s always been a big supporter of Women’s Boxing and
regularly has a female fight on her shows”
“Once
Howard and Carter were on board I contacted another big supporter of Women’s
Boxing, Bruce Baker, Chairman of the PBPA (Professional Boxing Promoters
Association).”
Despite
the surge in popularity she recognizes that the sport is in desperate needs of
investors and sponsors, “The meeting went well, however after discussions with
potential sponsors earlier this year, it soon became clear that we would be
better off aiming at late 2013, as many of the companies we approached said
that their current budget had been decimated by the Olympics.
This
delay actually may have done her a big favor, the original concept was to
promote an all female show headlined by a World title or two, but what we have
now is a totally different concept.
“Because of the success of last summers games we
decided to make this a truly world significant annual event, and created the
WBF women’s world boxing championships”.
WBF European coordinator Olaf Schroeder already has
the basis of a provisional card in place, there will be a minimum of four world
championship bouts, supported by a WBF International title fight, an
International Masters title fight and two special challenge cup bouts.
The
anticipated event will see German pair Christina Hammer and Ramona Kuehne, as
well as Hungary’s Zita Zatyko defending their world titles. Marston’s gym mate
former world #2 Amateur, Areti Mastrodouka will fight Kristine Shergold for the
International Masters Super Featherweight title, last time these pair met they
bought the house down, it was the fight of the night.
“With
such a lineup I’m sure we’ll easily fill the Excel to capacity, just as the
girls did during the Olympics, it will be electric, I can’t wait.”
Indeed it doesn’t, but female boxing clearly needs a grassroots base
before it can rise up and rival its male counterparts, and only time will tell
whether London 2012 and Nicola Adams have provided a springboard for success.
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